Alloy: Episode 149

I have mixed feelings about the term/genre “power pop.” Not about the music that is often saddled with this label, quite the contrary. It’s the words chosen to define the music that fills this genre—“power” and the killer, to me: “pop.” Too often “power pop” seems to carry a residual negative and/or a dismissive err about it when I hear it used. Is it just me? Perhaps. Is this a label, a genre, that is more an artificial artifact from the 20th century? Time will tell as we move onward in this century. Time and again, labels and stuffing music into restrictive genre bins seems to be too limiting at times. But, I digress....the good news: today’s show cast a light on a number of exceptional bands and tracks that swim, some more deeply than others, in the waters of “power pop.” Magnificent sharp and heavy guitars mixed with driving yet economical arrangements filled the airwaves for part of the morning. More and different power was on display with a deep dive into Fripp and Eno’s live recording from 1975, a classic. Finally, the show opened with the fabulous “Pharaoh’s Dance” from Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. The inspiration to include this track was in part born out of reading a great post that illuminated the fascinating creative process that flowed throughout the making of this release. Highly recommend checking the post out and listening to any track from this classic Miles Davis album. Timeless music. Checkout this week’s playlist to see what else was featured. Don't forget that you can see what was featured as part of the last episode, “Steps” (by clicking here). This week's artwork, “power” is an altered/remixed photograph by yours truly. You can also see the full image here.

As always, thanks for listening!